Third Episode

(As the song ceases, the King MENELAUS enters, richly armed and followed by a bodyguard of Soldiers. He is a prey to violent and conflicting emotions.)

MENELAUS.How bright the face of heaven, and how sweetThe air this day, that layeth at my feetThe woman that I . . . Nay: 'twas not for herI came. 'Twas for the man, the cozenerAnd thief, that ate with me and stole awayMy bride. But Paris lieth, this long day,By God's grace, under the horse-hoofs of the Greek,And round him all his land. And now I seek . . .Curse her! I scarce can speak the name she bears,That was my wife. Here with the prisonersThey keep her, in these huts, among the hordesOf numbered slaves.--The host whose labouring swordsWon her, have given her up to me, to fillMy pleasure; perchance kill her, or not kill,But lead her home.--Methinks I have foregoneThe slaying of Helen here in Ilion . . .Over the long seas I will bear her back,And there, there, cast her out to whatso wrackOf angry death they may devise, who knowTheir dearest dead for her in Ilion.--Ho!Ye soldiers! Up into the chambers whereShe croucheth! Grip the long blood-reeking hair,And drag her to mine eyes . . .(Controlling himself.)And when there comeFair breezes, my long ships shall bear her home.

(The Soldiers go to force open the door of the second hut on the left.)

HECUBA.Thou deep Base of the World, and thou high ThroneAbove the World, whoe'er thou art, unknownAnd hard of surmise, Chain of Things that be,Or Reason of our Reason; God, to theeI lift my praise, seeing the silent roadThat bringeth justice ere the end be trodTo all that breathes and dies.

MENELAUS (turning).Ha! who is thereThat prayeth heaven, and in so strange a prayer?

HECUBA.I bless thee, Menelaus, I bless thee,If thou wilt slay her! Only fear to seeHer visage, lest she snare thee and thou fall!She snareth strong men's eyes; she snareth tallCities; and fire from out her eateth upHouses. Such magic hath she, as a cupOf death! . . . Do I not know her? Yea, and thou,And these that lie around, do they not know?

(The Soldiers return from the hut and stand aside to let HELEN between them. She comes through them, gentle and unafraid: there is no disorder in her raiment.)

HELEN.King Menelaus, thy first deed might makeA woman fear. Into my chamber brakeThine armed men, and lead me wrathfully.Methinks, almost, I know thou hatest me.Yet I would ask thee, what decree is goneForth for my life or death?

MENELAUS (struggling with his emotion).There was not oneThat scrupled for thee. All, all with one willGave thee to me, whom thou hast wronged, to kill!

HELEN.And is it granted that I speak, or no,In answer to them ere I die, to showI die most wronged and innocent?

MENELAUS.I seekTo kill thee, woman; not to hear thee speak!

HECUBA.O hear her! She must never die unheard,King Menelaus! And give me the wordTo speak in answer! All the wrong she wroughtAway from thee, in Troy, thou knowest not.The whole tale set together is a deathToo sure; she shall not 'scape thee!

MENELAUS.'Tis but breathAnd time. For thy sake, Hecuba, if she needTo speak, I grant the prayer. I have no heedNor mercy--let her know it well--for her!

HELEN.It may be that, how false or true soe'erThou deem me, I shall win no word from thee.So sore thou holdest me thine enemy.Yet I will take what words I think thy heartHoldeth of anger: and in even partSet my wrong and thy wrong, and all that fell.(Pointing to HECUBA.)She cometh first, who bare the seed and wellOf springing sorrow, when to life she broughtParis: and that old King, who quenched notQuick in the spark, ere yet he woke to slay,The firebrand's image.--But enough: a dayCame, and this Paris judged beneath the treesThree Crowns of Life, three diverse Goddesses.The gift of Pallas was of War, to leadHis East in conquering battles, and make bleedThe hearths of Hellas. Hera held a Throne--If majesties he craved--to reign aloneFrom Phrygia to the last realm of the West.And Cypris, if he deemed her loveliest,Beyond all heaven, made dreams about my faceAnd for her grace gave me. And, lo! her graceWas judged the fairest, and she stood aboveThose twain.--Thus was I loved, and thus my loveHath holpen Hellas. No fierce Eastern crownIs o'er your lands, no spear hath cast them down.O, it was well for Hellas! But for meMost ill; caught up and sold across the seaFor this my beauty; yea, dishonouredFor that which else had been about my headA crown of honour. . . . Ah, I see thy thought;The first plain deed, 'tis that I answer not,How in the dark out of thy house I fled . . .There came the Seed of Fire, this woman's seed;Came--O, a Goddess great walked with him then--This Alexander, Breaker-down-of-Men,This Paris, Strength-is-with-him; whom thou, whom--O false and light of heart--thou in thy roomDidst leave, and spreadest sail for Cretan seas,Far, far from me! . . . And yet, how strange it is!I ask not thee; I ask my own sad thought,What was there in my heart, that I forgotMy home and land and all I loved, to flyWith a strange man? Surely it was not I,But Cypris, there! Lay thou thy rod on her,And be more high than Zeus and bitterer,Who o'er all other spirits hath his throne,But knows her chain must bind him. My wrong doneHath its own pardon. . . .One word yet thou hast,Methinks, of righteous seeming. When at lastThe earth for Paris oped and all was o'er,And her strange magic bound my feet no more,Why kept I still his house, why fled not ITo the Argive ships? . . . Ah, how I strove to fly!The old Gate-Warden could have told thee all,My husband, and the watchers from the wall;It was not once they took me, with the ropeTied, and this body swung in the air, to gropeIts way toward thee, from that dim battlement.Ah, husband still, how shall thy hand be bentTo slay me? Nay, if Right be come at last,What shalt thou bring but comfort for pains past,And harbour for a woman storm-driven:A woman borne away by violent men:And this one birthright of my beauty, thisThat might have been my glory, lo, it isA stamp that God hath burned, of slavery!Alas! and if thou cravest still to beAs one set above gods, inviolate,'Tis but a fruitless longing holds thee yet.

LEADER.O Queen, think of thy children and thy land,And break her spell! The sweet soft speech, the handAnd heart so fell: it maketh me afraid.

HECUBA.Meseems her goddesses first cry mine aidAgainst these lying lips! . . . Not Hera, nay,Nor virgin Pallas deem I such low clay,To barter their own folk, Argos and braveAthens, to be trod down, the Phrygian's slave,All for vain glory and a shepherd's prizeOn Ida! Wherefore should great Hera's eyesSo hunger to be fair? She doth not useTo seek for other loves, being wed with Zeus.And maiden Pallas . . . did some strange god's faceBeguile her, that she craved for loveliness,Who chose from God one virgin gift aboveAll gifts, and fleeth from the lips of love?Ah, deck not out thine own heart's evil springsBy making spirits of heaven as brutish thingsAnd cruel. The wise may hear thee, and guess all!And Cypris must take ship--fantastical!Sail with my son and enter at the gateTo seek thee! Had she willed it, she had sateAt peace in heaven, and wafted thee, and allAmyclae with thee, under Ilion's wall.My son was passing beautiful, beyondHis peers; and thine own heart, that saw and connedHis face, became a spirit enchanting thee.For all wild things that in mortalityHave being, are Aphrodite; and the nameShe bears in heaven is born and writ of them.Thou sawest him in gold and orient vestShining, and lo, a fire about thy breastLeapt! Thou hadst fed upon such little things,Pacing thy ways in Argos. But now wingsWere come! Once free from Sparta, and there rolledThe Ilian glory, like broad streams of gold,To steep thine arms and splash the towers! How small,How cold that day was Menelaus' hall!Enough of that. It was by force my sonTook thee, thou sayst, and striving. . . . Yet not oneIn Sparta knew! No cry, no sudden prayerRang from thy rooms that night. . . . Castor was thereTo hear thee, and his brother: both true men,Not yet among the stars! And after, whenThou camest here to Troy, and in thy trackArgos and all its anguish and the rackOf war--Ah God!--perchance men told thee 'NowThe Greek prevails in battle': then wouldst thouPraise Menelaus, that my son might smart,Striving with that old image in a heartUncertain still. Then Troy had victories:And this Greek was as naught! Alway thine eyesWatched Fortune's eyes, to follow hot where sheLed first. Thou wouldst not follow Honesty.Thy secret ropes, thy body swung to fallFar, like a desperate prisoner, from the wall!Who found thee so? When wast thou taken? Nay,Hadst thou no surer rope, no sudden wayOf the sword, that any woman honest-souledHad sought long since, loving her lord of old?Often and often did I charge thee; 'Go,My daughter; go thy ways. My sons will knowNew loves. I will give aid, and steal thee pastThe Argive watch. O give us peace at last,Us and our foes!' But out thy spirit criedAs at a bitter word. Thou hadst thy prideIn Alexander's house, and O, 'twas sweetTo hold proud Easterns bowing at thy feet.They were great things to thee! . . . And comest thou nowForth, and hast decked thy bosom and thy brow,And breathest with thy lord the same blue air,Thou evil heart? Low, low, with ravaged hair,Rent raiment, and flesh shuddering, and within--O shame at last, not glory for thy sin;So face him if thou canst! . . . Lo, I have done.Be true, O King; let Hellas bear her crownOf Justice. Slay this woman, and upraiseThe law for evermore: she that betraysHer husband's bed, let her be judged and die.

LEADER.Be strong, O King; give judgment worthilyFor thee and thy great house. Shake off thy longReproach; not weak, but iron against the wrong!

MENELAUS.Thy thought doth walk with mine in one intent.'Tis sure; her heart was willing, when she wentForth to a stranger's bed. And all her fairTale of enchantment, 'tis a thing of air! . . .(Turning furiously upon HELEN.)Out, woman! There be those that seek thee yetWith stones! Go, meet them. So shall thy long debtBe paid at last. And ere this night is o'erThy dead face shall dishonour me no more!

HELEN (kneeling before him and embracing him).Behold, mine arms are wreathed about thy knees;Lay not upon my head the phantasiesOf Heaven. Remember all, and slay me not!

HECUBA.Remember them she murdered, them that foughtBeside thee, and their children! Hear that prayer!

MENELAUS.Peace, aged woman, peace! 'Tis not for her;She is as naught to me.(To the Soldiers). . . March on before,Ye ministers, and tend her to the shore . . .And have some chambered galley set for her,Where she may sail the seas.

HECUBA.If thou be there,I charge thee, let not her set foot therein!

MENELAUS.How? Shall the ship go heavier for her sin?

HECUBA.A lover once, will alway love again.

MENELAUS.If that he loved be evil, he will fainHate it! . . . Howbeit, thy pleasure shall be done.Some other ship shall bear her, not mine own. . . .Thou counsellest very well . . . And when we comeTo Argos, then . . . O then some pitiless doomWell-earned, black as her heart! One that shall bindOnce for all time the law on womankindOf faithfulness! . . . 'Twill be no easy thing,God knoweth. But the thought thereof shall flingA chill on the dreams of women, though they beWilder of wing and loathed more than she!

(Exit, following HELEN, who is escorted by the Soldiers.)